Ombre Cake Dripping With Chocolate

I don’t even know where to begin with this cake! Every girl needs chocolate cake for her birthday, a big move, or a celebration of any kind!

Am I the only person out there who is a cake snob?? I rarely like (or eat) cake that I don’t make myself….or that my mom makes. Homemade cake just seems to taste rich instead of overly sweet.

This cake does look like a huge undertaking, but when you break it down, it isn’t as complicated. This is a three layer chocolate cake with buttercream icing. I had to use two batches of buttercream icing to create the entire look (recipe for the frosting will be posted soon). I do not have the recipe for the chocolate cake, since this one was an experiment! I am working on perfecting chocolate cake, so that you don’t have to. You can try this with a two layer cake, but I really think that the three layer cake is much more impressive.

Start by making up your cakes, and letting them cool completely. I like to put them in the fridge to cool down. Then, place a little bit of frosting on the cake stand, and put the first layer of cake on top of that. Layer some frosting on top of the first layer, and top with the second layer of cake, and repeat with the next layer so that you have three layers of cake with an even amount of frosting between each layer. Cover the entire cake with a thin layer of icing. This is called the crumb coat, because it holds all of the crumbs down. I like using an offset spatula for this, because it helps spread the icing nice and clean.

Place the cake covered with the crumb coat in the fridge for about 20 minutes.

(Note: leave a little bit of each color of icing in the piping bags for later use if needed to adjust colors)

Turn some of the frosting a darker shade of pink using food coloring, and place in a piping bag, leaving a little in the mixing bowl. Squeeze a few layers of the darker pink onto the bottom of the cake. In the same mixing bowl, add in some white frosting to mix with the left over darker pink. This will create the medium pink color.

Place the medium pink in another piping bag (leaving some of the medium pink frosting in the mixing bowl), and create a few more rows with the medium pink.

In the same mixing bowl, add in more of the white frosting to mix with the medium pink to create a light shade of pink. I have found that this is the best way to get the desired colors without wasting frosting, or using up a bunch of mixing bowls. Place the light pink frosting into another piping bag, and make a few more rows of icing until you reach the top of the cake.

**Make sure you have leftover icing in each bag so that you can decorate the top of the cake after you pour the chocolate over the top.

Use an offset spatula or pastry scraper to smooth out the sides of the cake to blend the colors. You may have to do this a few times.

You will also want to cover the top to make it look nice and smooth.

This cake could be left just like this! You could decorate the top with extra icing and call it a day!

If you want to add the chocolate on top, place the cake in the fridge for a few hours. You need the cake to be very cold in order for the chocolate to not melt the icing, and to create that great “dripping” look.

For the chocolate “dripping” on top, I used about a cup of chocolate chips, and added in 1 tablespoon of coconut oil.

Place the bowl over a pot of shallow simmering water, being sure that the water isn’t touching the bowl. This is called a double boiler, and it will slowly melt the chocolate to ensure it will not burn. The coconut oil is what helps it create that great “shell” that will harden on the cake.

Mix until smooth.

Take the cake out of the fridge, and pour the chocolate over the cold cake, and help it drip over the sides by using an offset spatula.

Decorate the top any way you like! I have been experimenting with meringue recipes, so I topped it with some frosting, and homemade pink meringues to add an extra whimsical touch.